Forza Motorsport 4 review: The king is dead, long live the king!

Forza Motorsport is the Xbox's answer to the PlayStation's Gran Turismo …

As Ars Technica's resident petrol head, it's no secret that I've been eagerly anticipating getting my hands on Forza Motorsport 4, the latest installment of Microsoft's marquee racing game for the Xbox 360. Ever since Sony finally shipped Gran Turismo 5, console racing fans have been waiting to see how Turn 10, Forza's developers, would respond. From where I'm sitting, it's clear that there really is a new king in town.

Look, Listen, Feel

The first thing you'll notice is a big improvement in the graphics. GT5's premium cars may still (just) have the edge, but unlike in that game, Forza doesn't have two different levels of detail—every car has a fully rendered interior and none have been dragged kicking and screaming from 2006. The Forza tracks are simply stunning, and a huge improvement on Forza Motorsport 3, where certain settings suffered from looking washed out. Particle effects like tire smoke and dust look great, hanging in the air realistically without causing frame rates to falter below a constant 60 fps.

In the run up to the launch I spoke with Dan Greenawalt, Lead Game Developer at Turn 10, who told me that this focus on ensuring a high frame rate was the reason Forza 4 doesn't feature dynamic weather or races that transition from day to night. The team made the right decision; it's this sort of attention to getting the fundamentals spot-on that shines through the game.

Some of the tracks are available to race on at different times of day: Hockenheimring, Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and Infineon Raceway (all of which make their series debut) can be raced at sunrise or during the day; Camino Viejo and Suzuka both have mid-day and sunset versions; and the Top Gear Test Track comes in normal and overcast flavors. These do a good job of simulating the difficulty of seeing where you're going with the sun blinding you, and are used to good effect in career mode when you have to complete multiple heats at the same circuit over the course of a day.

Greenawalt told us that the audio has also had a makeover, and your cars' sonic character changes as you build up their engines with new exhausts, valves, pistons, and so on. In the audio settings, you can also tweak the sound effect focus between engine noise or the sound of your tires, which can be handy depending on what sort of feedback you like when driving.

Forza 4 also features an entirely new physics model with completely new tire modeling courtesy of Pirelli.

Bluntly, you'll not get a more realistic driving game on any console. Bearing in mind that Turn 10 always aims to appeal across the gaming spectrum, from kids several years away from their driver's licenses to hardcore racers, the result is accessible and accurate. Depending on your skill level, you can tweak the difficulty to provide steering and braking assistance on top of the usual ABS, traction control, and so on. The rewind feature returns, as does the suggested racing line, but all of these can be turned off.

You can have a great time playing with the Xbox controller, but the game truly comes alive with a steering wheel. The boffins at Fanatec have produced an official Forza Motorsport 4 wheel, which I'll discuss in a bit more depth later in the review. With the steering set to "simulation," the game really is a great approximation of having a real car on track. You get a nice sense of weight transfer and how much grip you have, with the steering going light if you turn too hard as the front wheels lose adhesion and begin to spin, just as you would in a real car.

Start me up, Buttercup

If you've played Forza 3 and have a saved game on your Xbox, when you first start playing Forza 4 the game will detect your old save and you'll be gifted up to 10 cars depending on how far you progressed. The game also gifts you a number of other special cars if you've owned them in Forza 3, so gamers loyal to the franchise can hit the ground running.

You'll also want to install the content from the second disc. Load times are not particularly annoying; they're shorter than GT5, and menu navigation is significantly less frustrating.

In single player, the car count has gone up from eight to 12, but despite the greater AI workload for the CPU, framerate remains a steady 60 fps. Most events are good old races to the finish line, but mixed in with these are autocross challenges similar to those seen in Projects Gotham; Track Days where you have to beat another car to the end while dodging traffic comprised of slower cars; and mixed class races where you're competing against some cars of the same class but sharing the track with other, faster (or slower) cars having their own race. The Top Gear test track challenges are much less infuriating than those found in GT5, and you're tasked with knocking down bowling pins to rack up a high score.

Career mode has undergone some tweaks in this installment, presumably to keep players interested. As before, you can choose between World Tour, which sends you from track to track across the course of racing seasons, or pick from the event list. There's now an incentive to stay in World Tour; different races will offer you extra credits, or boosts to your driver experience points (XP) or to your car's Affinity (which gets you cheap car upgrades) on top of the normal rewards. However, you can't control the AI difficulty level in World Tour, and the AI scales as your XP increases. If your goal is to amass as many credits as possible, World Tour is where you'll want to spend your time.

On the other hand, if just completing every race is your priority, you have more control over your opponents by picking from the event list. Not only can you choose how smart the AI cars are, but you can limit the upgrades to the cars they drive. This does come with a penalty, though; the easier you make races, the less you earn.

Each time you reach a new driver XP level up to level 50, you'll be offered a choice of reward cars instead of just being awarded one, which I think is a pretty neat touch. In Forza 3, players maxed out at level 50, but now the game goes up to 150, with large credit bonuses from Level 51 onwards, so players with a compulsion to complete the game will find it takes significantly longer.

All of this means you don't really need to spend much time building up a stable of cars unless you particularly want to. Should you have your heart set on one of the more expensive cars in the game (I'm still nearly 2 million credits shy of a McLaren F1) you can even skip the grind by spending Microsoft points to buy car tokens. One token will cost you 80 points, or $1, with price breaks for six (400 points) and 13 (800 points). Even the most expensive car will only cost you three tokens. Sadly at the time of writing, it's not yet possible to purchase tokens, so right now it's a race to see if I get to 3 million credits before October 11.

Overall, Career mode offers a rich gameplay experience that should keep you busy for a while. According to my stats, I've spend just over four and a half hours driving time (don't worry, I've spent much longer with game in total) across 62 races. Despite reaching level 26, I've only completed 2.8 percent of the game. As you can see, I've got some way to go!

I don't pay attention to racing games either, but I think they are by far the best looking games (on any platform) this generation. They are approaching the point where you can easily fool people that they're looking at a photograph, not a real-time rendered scene. For example the picture above with the SUV (Jeep?) is almost enough to fool someone if only the pylons weren't shaded so poorly.

My standard for haptic feel is LFS on the PC. How does this compare to the feeling on that game? I think the FF on rfactor is utter shit compared to LFS. I have a GT Driving Force Pro but am thinking of buying the BMW ME GT wheel that Fanatec is releasing along with the club sport pedals. Good thing I have the income to do so.

I haven't tried iRacing yet so I don't know how the FF is on that game, hence my comparison to LFS.

I loved Forza 2 and Forza 3 but I can't bring myself to play a racing game that I can't use my G27 on anymore. And I'm not spending $400 for a wheel that I'll only use with one game. Makes me sad because the one area where PC racing is lacking is that it does not have a game like Forza or GT.

Does the title support a wheel other than the overpriced crap from Fanatec? I'd buy this in a heartbeat if it supported my ECCI wheel and pedal setup that I use with several PC based sims. I tried a Fanatec setup upon the suggestion of an Ars writer, and I found that wheel to be pretty lame for the price. I'd rather pay more for an ECCI setup (yes, it's quite a bit more), and have it truly mimic a real race experience.

This review was high on details of changes but little discussion on what they're like. There's one line on the new tire model. Okay, how does it drive? How's the AI? Yes, we know it's been improved but there's no details.

I dunno what I was looking for but it was more than this. This review didn't tell me much that we didn't already know from covering the Forza website.

Shame to hear about the Kinect head tracking not working correctly.

[Edit] Is there a Part 2 or follow up coming where you tell us what FM4 is like to drive and race? Because after three pages the review just seemed to stop suddenly.

I loved Forza 2 and Forza 3 but I can't bring myself to play a racing game that I can't use my G27 on anymore. And I'm not spending $400 for a wheel that I'll only use with one game. Makes me sad because the one area where PC racing is lacking is that it does not have a game like Forza or GT.

I agree 100%. I currently have the lesser G25 racing wheel, which I've used for a few years on my PS2 & PS3. I've played Forza 3 and enjoyed it, and while I still love playing GT5, I've played it much less than GT4 because of the long loading screens and poor menu layout.

If I could use my existing wheel, I'd go out and purchase a 360 w/ Forza 4 tomorrow (well, at least on release date). Even if the cost of a new wheel wasn't an issue, the storage space to keep 2 wheels wouldn't make me happy...

Does the title support a wheel other than the overpriced crap from Fanatec? I'd buy this in a heartbeat if it supported my ECCI wheel and pedal setup that I use with several PC based sims. I tried a Fanatec setup upon the suggestion of an Ars writer, and I found that wheel to be pretty lame for the price. I'd rather pay more for an ECCI setup (yes, it's quite a bit more), and have it truly mimic a real race experience.

As far as I know, fanatec are about the only ones making 360-compatible wheels. They are coming out with another wheel "soon" though, with belt drive and double the motor power. Look for the Clubsport Racing Elite wheel

Top Gear! Instant sale. It's a shame how EA blocked Porsche from Forza 4. This is not going to make me want to waste more money on a yearly NFS release designed for a quick fix but priced like a marathon runner. Forza 4 looks like a quality release. The franchise has come a long way since its first iteration.

I want to see The Stig make fun of EA and NFS in commercials advertising Forza 4.

Have you guys played Shift 2? I understand that EA doesn't deserve much love, but it's a damn good game. The car behaviors are more honest than GT5 and slight changes in set up can make significant differences in lap time. The learning curve is steep but worth it.

I'm about as far away from a gearhead as it gets, but I can't wait for this to come out Being able to tone down the difficulty while still having a challenging experience is what sold me on F3 (and turned me off to GTx). For some reason racing SIMs are just so much fun.

This review was high on details of changes but little discussion on what they're like. There's one line on the new tire model. Okay, how does it drive? How's the AI? Yes, we know it's been improved but there's no details.

I dunno what I was looking for but it was more than this. This review didn't tell me much that we didn't already know from covering the Forza website.

Shame to hear about the Kinect head tracking not working correctly.

[Edit] Is there a Part 2 or follow up coming where you tell us what FM4 is like to drive and race? Because after three pages the review just seemed to stop suddenly.

I agree, it feels like the review never actually talks about the gameplay nor does it give any real reason (especially in terms of content/features) why it's "King" over GT5. This is important because GT5 is getting a big update soon.

So, my question is, how fun is it for people who like racing games, but more of the arcade type and not sims? I did enjoy NFS Shift and the DiRT series, how does it compare? By that, I don't mean graphics-wise (easy to tell they're better), but can you crank up the assists, turn off critical damage and brute force your way through packs of opposing drivers? What, me, an aggressive driver? Naaaaaaaw... Anyhow, I love the look of it, and occasionally I do really enjoy the sim racing games, but I tend to have more fun when I can let loose and not have to worry about damage or losing grip around a corner that I know I'm taking way too fast.

I loved Forza 2 and Forza 3 but I can't bring myself to play a racing game that I can't use my G27 on anymore. And I'm not spending $400 for a wheel that I'll only use with one game. Makes me sad because the one area where PC racing is lacking is that it does not have a game like Forza or GT.

Seriously? Ugh, I've been on the fence over buying an Xbox, it just seemed silly to own two consoles. But with the improvements to the console as a media centre and Forza I've been pretty tempted. Owning two wheels though is just not going to happen.

I'm hoping Grid 2 is good (slated for 2012, going by Codemasters comments last year that Dirt and Grid would get alternating releases annually), but we'll see.

It's not a wheel, but the adjustable stick tension on the Onza TE is how I have to play F3 and will play F4. Not sadly in any way, marriage and home ownership come first before amazing $400 wheel setups.

I live in an area where the only tracks are 1/4 mile derby tracks or drags so I have to carve canyons when I get the time. I truly can't wait for my limited edition F4 to get in next week. I may have to go scrounging for some cars that I don't currently own in F3 so that I can get the bonuses in F4.

I loved Forza 2 and Forza 3 but I can't bring myself to play a racing game that I can't use my G27 on anymore. And I'm not spending $400 for a wheel that I'll only use with one game. Makes me sad because the one area where PC racing is lacking is that it does not have a game like Forza or GT.

I agree 100%. I currently have the lesser G25 racing wheel, which I've used for a few years on my PS2 & PS3. I've played Forza 3 and enjoyed it, and while I still love playing GT5, I've played it much less than GT4 because of the long loading screens and poor menu layout.

If I could use my existing wheel, I'd go out and purchase a 360 w/ Forza 4 tomorrow (well, at least on release date). Even if the cost of a new wheel wasn't an issue, the storage space to keep 2 wheels wouldn't make me happy...

If it helps your decision any I prefer my P911TS to my G27 for GT5. The G27 is better in a few areas but overall the Fanatec wins out. It's especially nice that it works on all my consoles and saves wheel settings for multiple games (5 settings on the wheel).

So, my question is, how fun is it for people who like racing games, but more of the arcade type and not sims? I did enjoy NFS Shift and the DiRT series, how does it compare? By that, I don't mean graphics-wise (easy to tell they're better), but can you crank up the assists, turn off critical damage and brute force your way through packs of opposing drivers? What, me, an aggressive driver? Naaaaaaaw... Anyhow, I love the look of it, and occasionally I do really enjoy the sim racing games, but I tend to have more fun when I can let loose and not have to worry about damage or losing grip around a corner that I know I'm taking way too fast.

you're never going to be able to brute force your way well in Forza, based on my experience. You lose serious speed, and there's a good chance that you'll just flat-out lost control of your car.

Playing with the assists up is still definitely casual fun, but not "super arcade" casual. It's still at its core a "true" racing game.

I still have my XBox wireless racing wheel, and I'll use that. Sure, it's not near as fancy as the Fanatec wheels, but I can't spend that much for one game, and I don't do other racing games often enough to make it matter.

Can you get a good value wheel for this game or will it just not be worth while? I want a wheel, but $400 seems a bit steep for one game.

The older MS wireless wheel was pretty good, but finding one used might be tricky, MadKatz are supposed to have a new wheel coming out in the next month for $250 that will have force feedback, otherwise you're into the low end rumble-only wheels.

Don't forget that the fanatec works with the pc and ps3, so can be used for GT5, iracing etc. There's also several other good racing games even if you only use it on the 360 (Shift 2, Dirt 3, F1 2011.)

Nice review, but it does seema bit light on content. Was the kinect problem only with head tracking, or was it giving problems when used as the controller and in autovista?

I've probably put >12 hours on track in the demo, and I have been completely blown away by the way it plays, controls, feels and looks. Just completely blown away.

There are some cheaper wheel options available, though I wouldn't consider any of them worth it.

Madcatz for example have 3 offerings

The Nascar Xbox 360 racing wheel, which doesn't appear to be in production anymore.

The standard wireless racing wheel (link removed) for about $160, doesn't seem to include force feedback and doesn't mention if there is an AC adapter to go with it. Neat however that the pedals are over slung instead of the standard for racing pedals, sticking up out of the floor.

Finally the force feedback racing wheel (link removed) for about $250 featuring the overhead pedals and an interchangeable sequential gear shift and says to include the AC adapter.

Not being a fan of Madcatz products (specifically their steering wheels going back to the days of the PS2 where the wheels would fall apart, cease to function entirely or catch fire in my lap despite not having any force feedback in those days) I'll be staying away from those until I see some user reviews popping up.

Until then I'll be sticking with my bullet proof MS Wireless Racing wheel, which I picked up used for $50. Which may not be everyone's favorite wheel (granted it's limited turning radius and lesser sensitivity than higher priced wheels), I have enjoyed mine greatly since I bought it, have experienced only 1 issue in over a year of ownership of this used goody (plastic fitting issue with the paddle shifter which was fixed by removing the shifter and filing down the plastic bit that was causing the issue).

Beyond that I did do several tests between the wheel and controller and found very, very little performance difference between the two (0.090 seconds averaged over 5 laps) for casual players or those unable to spring >$250 for a wheel a controller should do just fine as well.

This review was high on details of changes but little discussion on what they're like. There's one line on the new tire model. Okay, how does it drive? How's the AI? Yes, we know it's been improved but there's no details.

I dunno what I was looking for but it was more than this. This review didn't tell me much that we didn't already know from covering the Forza website.

Shame to hear about the Kinect head tracking not working correctly.

[Edit] Is there a Part 2 or follow up coming where you tell us what FM4 is like to drive and race? Because after three pages the review just seemed to stop suddenly.

yeah, is this a pr release or a review? Maybe a non-racing-game-fanboy would have been better choice for writer?

I own Gran Turismo 5. I've played a lot of Gran Turismo 5. I even kind of like Gran Turismo 5. The problem is that GT5 isn't a racing simulator--it's a car owning simulator that you just happen to be able to use to race the cars that you can collect, like shiny pokemons. The unskippable delivery animations, the oil changes, the requirement to comb through the used car lot to find rides that match a race's requirements--GT5 is all about acquiring and owning a stable of cars, dreamed up by an obsessive-compulsive insane person and polished with Japanese manic precision far past lunatic perfection, to the point where the polisher's fingers are bloody nubbins. The racing in GT5 is secondary to the owning. I think that if they could have gotten away with it, PD would have included an additional game mode in GT5 where you just drive around in Tokyo traffic, stopping for red lights and all.

Forza 4, on the other hand, appears to be about actually racing cars, rather than collecting cars that you also happen to be able to race under certain conditions. If I hadn't already spent so much damn money on a wheel for GT5, I'd consider picking up Forza 4, because damned if it doesn't look more like the game I wished GT5 had been.

Maybe my perspective is wrong--maybe I'm too westernized in my game tastes and GT5's main appeal is lost on me--but it just looks like a better game.

Can someone please make a cheap racing wheel (< $100) for the Xbox? The wireless one doesn't work very well at all and the next jump is the premium ones. Why has Logitech not made a Xbox wheel for ages?

I loved Forza 2 and Forza 3 but I can't bring myself to play a racing game that I can't use my G27 on anymore. And I'm not spending $400 for a wheel that I'll only use with one game. Makes me sad because the one area where PC racing is lacking is that it does not have a game like Forza or GT.

The Fanatec will work with all three platforms. G25s and G27s have never worked on the Xbox 360 because Microsoft chose a different I/O protocol or something.

Nagumo wrote:

Does the title support a wheel other than the overpriced crap from Fanatec? I'd buy this in a heartbeat if it supported my ECCI wheel and pedal setup that I use with several PC based sims. I tried a Fanatec setup upon the suggestion of an Ars writer, and I found that wheel to be pretty lame for the price. I'd rather pay more for an ECCI setup (yes, it's quite a bit more), and have it truly mimic a real race experience.

See above.

Abulia wrote:

This review was high on details of changes but little discussion on what they're like. There's one line on the new tire model. Okay, how does it drive? How's the AI? Yes, we know it's been improved but there's no details.

It drives like actual cars! Weight transfer is well modeled, The Veyron understeers like a pig, the Lotus 2-Eleven is as sweet as it was in FM3.

As for the AI, so far they're usually in my rear view mirror. They can be a bit aggressive but I'm usually past them by the third or fourth corner of the first lap.

Quote:

[Edit] Is there a Part 2 or follow up coming where you tell us what FM4 is like to drive and race? Because after three pages the review just seemed to stop suddenly.

I have some questions in with Turn 10 I'm still waiting to get answers to, so assuming the Editors are willing, there could be another post. I will see what I can do.

gmenfan wrote:

In regards to your comments on the new 360 wireless speed wheel:

"Personally, I find it falls somewhere between the controller-free Kinect mode and using the standard Xbox controller;"

I am not sure how to interpret this. Is it better than the 360 controller but not quite as good as the Kinect hands free mode or do you mean the opposite?

The latter - you have the same problem of holding your arms out in front of you with no fixed turning point but at least you also have control of accelerating, braking, and gears.

HedPhuqt wrote:

Have you guys played Shift 2? I understand that EA doesn't deserve much love, but it's a damn good game. The car behaviors are more honest than GT5 and slight changes in set up can make significant differences in lap time. The learning curve is steep but worth it.

I haven't yet, but I am interested in getting to try it. Have not been that impressed with previous EA racing games, but the last one I played for any extended time was the one where you're given free reign of Oahu.

one8kevin wrote:

Abulia wrote:

This review was high on details of changes but little discussion on what they're like. There's one line on the new tire model. Okay, how does it drive? How's the AI? Yes, we know it's been improved but there's no details.

I dunno what I was looking for but it was more than this. This review didn't tell me much that we didn't already know from covering the Forza website.

Shame to hear about the Kinect head tracking not working correctly.

[Edit] Is there a Part 2 or follow up coming where you tell us what FM4 is like to drive and race? Because after three pages the review just seemed to stop suddenly.

I agree, it feels like the review never actually talks about the gameplay nor does it give any real reason (especially in terms of content/features) why it's "King" over GT5. This is important because GT5 is getting a big update soon.

It has the looks to rival GT5, with more realistic collisions and weight transfer. It also does this with lower loading times, much more intuitive menus, a robust online community. There is varied gameplay in Single Player, there are 16 player lobbies online, and it's accessible. Can you be more specific about what you want to know that I didn't include?

bojesphob wrote:

So, my question is, how fun is it for people who like racing games, but more of the arcade type and not sims? I did enjoy NFS Shift and the DiRT series, how does it compare? By that, I don't mean graphics-wise (easy to tell they're better), but can you crank up the assists, turn off critical damage and brute force your way through packs of opposing drivers? What, me, an aggressive driver? Naaaaaaaw... Anyhow, I love the look of it, and occasionally I do really enjoy the sim racing games, but I tend to have more fun when I can let loose and not have to worry about damage or losing grip around a corner that I know I'm taking way too fast.

Sort of. The going into corners too fast will continue to be a problem although with braking and steering assist on, and no damage, you could actually mash buttons and still have a great time. Just don't do it online unless everyone else is cool with that!

Crackhead Johny wrote:

I may get this to play while I wait for the release of GT5.

A nukem loop. When you have been waiting for a game so long that you never believe it has actually been released.

Well played, Sir!

BigLan wrote:

Nice review, but it does seema bit light on content. Was the kinect problem only with head tracking, or was it giving problems when used as the controller and in autovista?

No, it works great as a controller and Autovista, but that's because you're standing up closer to the TV. If your racing setup has you only 3-4 feet from your screen, I think head tracking would work really well. I sit about 8-9 feet from the TV in my living room, so it seems to cope less well.

The unskippable delivery animations, the oil changes, the requirement to comb through the used car lot to find rides that match a race's requirements...The racing in GT5 is secondary to the owning. I think that if they could have gotten away with it, PD would have included an additional game mode in GT5 where you just drive around in Tokyo traffic, stopping for red lights and all.I'd consider picking up Forza 4, because damned if it doesn't look more like the game I wished GT5 had been.Maybe my perspective is wrong--maybe I'm too westernized in my game tastes and GT5's main appeal is lost on me--but it just looks like a better game.

I'm in the same boat. And no I don't think you're too westernized; I think Polyphony (and many japanese game companies this generation) are too adamant about just scaling/continuing their old methods of game creation, interaction, and UI to the point they don't realize how many of us are negatively affected by their methods - and how much better other companies can do it.